The field of this invention relates to plumbing and more particularly to a device which is to be temporarily installed within a plumbing system of a building structure to permit testing to insure that all the piping connections within the plumbing system are connected in a fluid-tight manner.
In the constructing of any plumbing system within a building or home, it is required by most city and county codes that the plumbing system be tested to make sure that it is leak free. For example, if a multi-story office building is being built, every so many feet in height of the building, it is required to test the plumbing for any possible leaks. The common procedure is to install at an appropriate lower location with the plumbing a specially configured section of pipe which is defined as a "Y" section. The "Y" section has a short outwardly extending pipe which is normally closed. When it is required to test the pipe system, the plumber will open this short section of pipe and install an inflatable bladder within the pipe and inflate such to tightly close off the discharge outlet of the pipe system. The plumber then goes to the topmost pipe of the pipe system, that is open, and fills such with with water. The plumber then applies pressure to the required level, such as fifty pounds per square inch, and then observes if there are any leaks within any portion of the piping system. The inflatable bladder prevents escape of the water. If there are no leaks, the plumber then deflates the bladder and removes such which causes the water to escape and be discharged within appropriate sewer located exteriorly of the building.
Within a forty or fifty story building it is required that there be a substantial number of these "Y" sections installed. Each "Y" section is expensive and once it is used to effect testing of the system, the "Y" section is never used again. Also, this separate conduit from the "Y" section may provide for a collecting station for debris which can result in clogging of the plumbing system. It would be desirable to construct some form of a testing assembly which eliminated the use of such a "Y" with only a normal connection arrangement being employed between the different sections of pipe.
This invention is an improvement of U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,664 issued Aug. 26, 1986, entitled PLUMBING TEST PLUG APPARATUS.